The Canadian Open, also known as the Canada Masters, and branded as the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank, is an annual tennis tournament held in Canada. The second-oldest tournament in all of tennis, the men's competition is a Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour, and the women's competition is a Premier 5 tournament on the WTA Tour. The competition is played on hard courts. The events alternate from year to year between the cities of Montreal and Toronto. Since 2021 in even-numbered years the men's tournament is held in Montreal, while the women's tournament is held in Toronto, and vice versa in odd-numbered years. Prior to 2011, they were held during separate weeks in the July–August period; now the two competitions are held during the same week in August. The Toronto tournament is held at the Aviva Centre and the Montreal tournament is held at the IGA Stadium. The current singles champions as of 2019 are Rafael Nadal and Bianca Andreescu.
History
The men's tournament began in 1881, and was held at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club, while the women's competition was first held in 1892. Of the major tennis tournaments in the world today, only Wimbledon has been around longer. Prior to 1968 the tournament was known as the Canadian National Championships. Between 1970 and 1989 it was a major event of the Grand Prix Tennis Tour as part of the Grand Prix Super Series between 1972–1973, 1978–1989. The tournament was sponsored for a number of years by tobacco brands. In the 1970s, Rothmans International was the chief sponsor, followed by Player's Limited in the 1980s, and then Du Maurier from 1997 to 2000. However, Canadian federal legislation then came into effect banning tobacco advertising. Rogers Communications, a Canadian communications and media company, took over as the new presenting sponsor. The event was played on clay until 1979 when it switched permanently to hard courts. Both the men's and women's tournaments were played as a single combined tournament at the National Tennis Centre in Toronto until 1981, when the men's tournament was played at the Jarry Park Stadium in Montreal for the first time. Similarly 1982 was the first year in which the women's tournament was played in Montreal.
Recent
In 1989, two Canadian male tennis players, Grant Connell and Andrew Sznajder, reached the quarterfinals of the event. They were eliminated by Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi during that round. Lendl went on to defeat Agassi in the semi-finals and John McEnroe in the finals of that edition. Lendl has been the tournament's most successful singles player, reaching the final nine times and winning the title in 1980, 1981, 1983, 1987, 1988, and 1989. In 1995, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras met in the final, the third of the four times that the two top-ranked men's players would meet that year, after the Australian Open and Indian Wells Masters. Agassi's tournament win helped him regain the number-one ranking, which he lost to Sampras after they played each other again at the US Open. In 2004, the tournament became part of the US Open Series, in the build-up to the US Open grand slam tournament. The women's tournament was moved to just before the US Open grand slam tournament. Consequently, top players such as Venus and Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova often withdrew from the tournament at the last minute to rest for the upcoming US Open. In 2009, WTA CEO Stacey Allaster implemented rules reclassifying the women's event as a Premier 5 and the WTA's rules require each year-end top-10 player from 2008 to participate in at least four Premier 5 tournaments in the 2009 season, or face the threat of fines or docked ranking points. Consequently, 19 of the top 20 female players took part in the 2009 Rogers Cup draw. The ATP mandates participation for the men's tournament, as a "1000-level" series event. Beginning in 2011, the men's and women's Rogers Cup tournaments were held during the same week, doing away with the later tournament which was said to be too close to the US Open. The corresponding rounds of the men's and women's matches are held on the same day, though a couple of hours apart to avoid broadcast conflicts.
